UCH Sorn - ECCC

Background and Role

In 1973, Uch Sorn worked as a rice farmer.¹ He was accused of being a spy² and arrested in 1973 during the dry season, in March or April,³ in Knaa Ambeus Lake. He was arrested while buying pigs⁴ for a ritual Buddhist ceremony,⁵ before Buddhism was demolished by the Khmer Rouge regime.⁶ The village chief arrested Uch Sorn,⁷ and brought him to the security office at M-13 camp in Thpong, Kampong Speu province.⁸ Mr Sorn was released to Pursat province in 1974.⁹ Uch Sorn testified in Case 001 primarily about the detention conditions at camp M-13.

M-13 camp

Mr Sorn did not know anything about M-13 before the time of his arrest.¹⁰ During his detention at M-13, he saw ill-treatment of the prisoners in all forms, and physical and emotional torture as well as starvation.¹¹ Each day he saw prisoners die.¹² There was never a day no prisoner died.¹³ He described the M-13 Security Office as a “pretty large” building: Q: How big was the security office? How many hectares? A: It's hard to estimate. It was pretty large. Probably it was 100 metres square, that was in the detention centre, and there were square pits three metres deep, about five, six or seven pits, and it was covered with palm tree leaves and the prisoners were put in those pits, including myself; we were detained in those pits.¹⁴ Uch Sorn was detained for around one year.¹⁵ He was forced to perform maintenance work including digging pits and also carried timber to make a shelter to protect the pits and the detainees from bombing.¹⁶ Moreover, he had the role of cleaning the premises and burying dead bodies.¹⁷ Uch Sorn testified that the detainees were female, male, old and young alike.¹⁸ Most detainees being probably aged between 30 and 40 years old¹⁹ (middle-aged people).²⁰ Khmer Rouge soldiers – probably those who had been defeated on the frontlines of the battle with the Lon Nol soldiers²¹ – were also detained at M-13.²² He also testified that “there were about four to ten children who were detained with their parents”, but he never saw again the detained children, and he presumed they were disappeared and died.²³ Detainees were detained in pits around three meters deep, with no bed nor mat to sleep on,²⁴ and with insects around them.²⁵ There were about 20 to 30 people in each pit.²⁶ When it rained, detainees used to get soaked because the rain leaked from the roof of the pits.²⁷ There was no bathroom and detainees who needed to relieve themselves ask the guards. The guard would then drop a bamboo pipe in the pits for detainees to urinate inside.²⁸ Detainees' ankles were shackled and there was a metal bar with rings; every metal bar was attached to five detainees.²⁹ Regarding the sanitary conditions, the witness observed that for those who were detained in the pits, there was the possibility to take a bath in the stream, albeit with tied hands.³⁰ However, detainees did not have any clothes to change into, only the clothes that they were given when they were arrested.³¹ Furthermore, some detainees were naked because their clothes had been stripped off.³² Regarding the food, most of the detainees were sick because they were given a paddle of gruel or rice only in the morning³³, and a glass of water upon request.³⁴ Therefore, many died of starvation.³⁵ According to Sorn's testimony, the prisoners who starved were more numerous than those who died because of torture. Each day there were about 10 to 15 prisoners who starved to death³⁶, whilst he saw only two prisoners die after torture.³⁷ He also testified that one day he cleaned up the brains of a prisoner who was shot in the head and killed.³⁸ Uch Sorn also reported several episodes of detainees being abused and tortured. On the day of his arrest, he saw a prisoner who attempted to escape. The prisoner was interrogated, and after the interrogation Uch Sorn could not even recognize his face due to the bruises.³⁹ He saw prisoners who were beaten with either a hoe or a bamboo stick⁴⁰ and he was asked to dig the pits for their burial.⁴¹ Other forms of violence were also used. For example, some prisoners were held, their legs and their hands tied, and submerged in the Trapeang Chrap pond and then lifted up and interrogated.⁴² Furthermore, pliers were used for pulling out fingernails and needles to prick fingernails.⁴³ He heard prisoners screaming due to torture.⁴⁴ The guards who executed and tortured the prisoners were quite young, probably from 17 to 20 years old.⁴⁵ One day he saw Duch beating a female person with a whip. After a while, some young guards came and beat the girl. When she became unconscious, Duch slapped the woman's body, laughing, while the victim was having a seizure on the ground.⁴⁶ Another woman was buried alive.⁴⁷ The civil party estimated that at least 200 to 300 of the prisoners who died were buried in the burial site close to the M-13 Security Office.⁴⁸ Mr. Sorn recognized Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, as the chief of M-13 Security Office, after being asked by Judge Lavergne, during the hearing, whether he recognised him.⁴⁹ The Trial Chamber found Uch Sorn’s testimony reliable. The Trial Chamber stated that at M-13, Duch was responsible for ensuring that the policy of interrogating and “smashing” detainees was implemented.⁵⁰ Interrogation of M-13 detainees were frequently carried out through violent means, principally via beatings with bamboo branches.⁵¹ Moreover, detention conditions lack of adequate food and medical care.⁵²

Statement of harm

Uch Sorn made the following statements about his experience: “If I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the survivors or of those who died under torture or after being tortured, I believe that the way I would proceed in order to calm my endless suffering, what I would do would be to feel even -- to be able to see that in suffering that is inflicted today upon the accused, that I can say that I am -- even with this -- I am asking myself questions on the possibility of a kind of relief for the victims.⁵³ Today, insofar that it's -- I don't know if it's possible, I cannot imagine, but if it's possible I would have the feeling -- while the relief would be in a way that I can feel that I have got even, that I would see that in the suffering of the person who would have tortured my father or killed my children, well, to see that the suffering can be tantamount to what he's feeling now.⁵⁴ […] I wanted justice to be done for the Cambodian people who survived from that horrible tragedy of the Pol Pot regime. No other humankind was suffered than those who suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime. I don't have anything else to say”.⁵⁵

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
9 April 2009	E1/11	E1/11.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
កំណត់ហេតុនៃការស្តាប់ចម្លើយសាក្សី អ៊ុច ស៊ន ដោយសហចៅក្រមស៊ើប ចុះថ្ងៃទី២៨ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០០៨	Written Record of Interview UCH Sorn by OCIJ on 28-03-2008		D78/2	E3/7